Hi all,

As it says in the title the car is an 84, 4-speed manual, bone stock and 75k on the odo.

For some reason the car will start perfect if it has been sitting for awhile, but if i take a 10-15min trip around town it wont restart. When I go to start it back up I can hear the pump prime, but when I go to crank it nothing happens. I get absolutley nothing, no sound from the starter , and no clicking of the starter solenoid. I checked the clutch saftey switch and found that it was bad, and I wired around it but I'm still having the same problem. Ive checked the voltage getting to the starter, im getting 12v to the larger terminal but nothing too the smaller terminal. After letting the car sit if i check it again I get the full 12v to the smaller terminal and it cranks. I've read that there are fusble links between the clutch saftey switch and the smaller terminal on the starter, could these be the cause of my problems?

I understand that most of the starter components get hot because of how close the exhaust is too them, but it seems kind of odd that I would have intermittent fusible link failure. I've never heard of such a thing.

Any help is appreciated!

Hi there,
I think you are on the right track with the wiring. How old are the battery cables? If they are original, it may be time to replace them. The resistance in the wire goes up with temperature, so it may start fine when cold, but have too much resistance when hot. Had a similar problem on my '86 V6 car, and replacing the wires took care of the hot-start problem. I have read that the cables oxidize from the inside out over the years, and need to be replaced. If so, should be a fairly quick and cheap fix - battery cables aren't real expensive (compared to a new starter, for example.)

quote Originally posted by 88RallySport: Hi all, As it says in the title the car is an 84, 4-speed manual, bone stock and 75k on the odo. For some reason the car will start perfect if it has been sitting for awhile, but if i take a 10-15min trip around town it wont restart. When I go to start it back up I can hear the pump prime, but when I go to crank it nothing happens. I get absolutley nothing, no sound from the starter , and no clicking of the starter solenoid. I checked the clutch saftey switch and found that it was bad, and I wired around it but I'm still having the same problem. Ive checked the voltage getting to the starter, im getting 12v to the larger terminal but nothing too the smaller terminal. After letting the car sit if i check it again I get the full 12v to the smaller terminal and it cranks. I've read that there are fusble links between the clutch saftey switch and the smaller terminal on the starter, could these be the cause of my problems? I understand that most of the starter components get hot because of how close the exhaust is too them, but it seems kind of odd that I would have intermittent fusible link failure. I've never heard of such a thing. Any help is appreciated!

I had the exact same problem with mine. ended up with the starter was bad and had to be replaced. In my unique case the whole sollenoid casing had come apart and I was getting no contact when the starter was warm from my exhaust and some of the metal was expanded. But that is my unique story. Yours is possibly different.

Funny story behind it. I was almost unable to return the starter even though I had a lifetime warantee at autozone. They hooked the starter up to the tester because the only way to test it is if it tests bad, my starter ended up frying their whole machine and I was unable to have it test bad due to my starter destroying the testing equipment.